what goes unseen
by cheaterinpink
Summary: she's as good as they come.
1. as good as they come

**as good as they come  
><strong>_part 1 of 10_

She reminds him of a porcelain doll when she goes to school, wearing blinding white, blonde hair sparkling in the sun. He can see her breaking when she wears that neat pokerface, smiles so seemingly genuinely at her friends, tries to keep everything under control. Her strength is strangely fragile and for some probably idiotic reason, he likes it. Couldn't imagine it any other way.

Sometimes, he thinks she's a total child. When she insists on getting her candy. When she sits in stony silence until he gives her what she wants. Or, well, just leans over, hand slipping over her thigh, and arrests her mouth with his.

But, there are other times. Like now, when he's driving down this nondescript road. She's casually slipping her arm around his shoulders, leaning over the handrest to pepper his jaw with kisses. Inching upwards, she finally meets his lips and with her tongue in his mouth, her hands slipping under his clothes, this, combined with the illegal speed he's driving at, creates the greatest high he's ever had.

So, he rewards her. When she pulls away, collapsing like a rag doll in her seat, he smirks at her dazed soft smile. She reaches over to grasp his hand, drawing little circles on his palm. He lets her.

Maybe he doesn't need his Katherine. Sometimes, Caroline's as good as they come.


	2. your light is too bright

**your light is too bright**  
>part 2 of 10<p>

He's tired. His exhaustion radiates from his slouched shoulders, his stiff limp, his hanging head. He's tired – not wounded, or so he adamantly states.

"You're hurt," Caroline points out disbelievingly, pausing midway in her manicure.

"No," Damon sighs, light annoyance playing in the undercurrents of his words, "I'm tired."

Caroline rolls her eyes, getting up from her bed. His dark eyes watch her as she skips to the bathroom, her light entirely too bright for the room. He breaks a lamp in her absence and when she returns, he sees the frown on her face as clearly as a burning red sun against the sky's backdrop.

"What'd you that for?" She strides over to him, grabbing his chin with slightly more force than necessary (especially considering the fact that he could rip her heart out in a heartbeat). Her eyes flicker to meet his before she drops her gaze, concentrating on the bloody scar carving out a smile along his cheek.

He doesn't answer her, instead focussing on the tiny lines that have suddenly appeared on her forehead. He watches her furrowed brows and her tight gaze, almost a glare with more anxiety than fury, and her teeth biting her lips. He reaches for her waist as she finishes up.

"What happened?" Caroline asks softly, drawing closer to him. Instantly, he looks away, the smashed glass on the floor appearing to capture his interest. She can feel herself losing him, and so she grabs his jacket, pulling him closer. What results is her clumsy stumble into him, rather than him taking a step towards her.

"Hey." She rests her palm on his other cheek, the one not wounded. If he closes his eyes, he can imagine himself far away, alone, on the dark other side of a chasm that goes on for as far as the eye can see. On the screen of his closed eyelids, he imagines Caroline running across a garden, chasing a rabbit, golden hair trailing behind her like a floating banner. "What happened?" he sees her calling after the rabbit; her mouth is stretched open in horror.

"What happened?" Caroline's mouth is on his. Her tongue rubs against his lower lip. His eyes startle open. He detaches himself from her, moving her a foot away. Amidst her indignant looks, he studies her.

"Your light is too bright," he says simply, before the blood veins pop out and his eyes bleed black. He pulls her gently towards him, wrapping her in his embrace, before brushing her hair back and lunging for the white expanse of her neck. Immediately, she leans into him, arms unfolding to cling to him. The waves crash around them, the whirlpools drown them. She whispers to him, the words notes of a lullaby, as he sucks life out of her –

"This is why I love you."


	3. i wanted

_I wanted you to care._  
><em>I wanted you to love me.<em>  
><em>I wanted you to never leave me...<em>

* * *

><p>"Will you stay for the night?"<p>

Pause. What's that in the air, but the red salt of pain.

"I would."

She nods, accepting it. "But you won't."

He brushes her cheek, cold touch haunting. "Maybe tomorrow." And then he's gone, the soft lace curtains twisting in his wake, her distraught gaze following him out the window into the clear night.

_Sigh._

* * *

><p>"Will you stay tonight?"<p>

She hates the plea wound into the question. The four words sound frail and quiet in the air, like a thought not meant to be said aloud. She wishes she could reach out and snatch them back, stuff them back inside of her and lock them up tight. She wishes for no desperation, no weakness. She wishes he would look at her for once when she asks that.

"Tomorrow." He says it with the faint air of a promise, and she stupidly believes him even though she doesn't.

He doesn't even visit the next night.

* * *

><p>"I love you."<p>

That must be the most stupid of them all. She rears back, clutches her mouth with her hands. Horrified. Draws the heavy white bedsheets around her like a cloak.

_Why? Why would you say that?_

His scent in the room and edge of a footprint – that's what he leaves behind. She sobs recklessly until she falls asleep.


End file.
